


After the Snap

by auburnedcattails



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/F, F/M, Fix-It, May Parker is a goddess, Parent Pepper, Parent Tony Stark, Pepper Pots/May Parker (If you squint), Peter Parker Has a Family, Tony Stark Has A Heart, You can't change my mind, and the kid deserves it, look Peter has been through way too much, tony lives AU, what can I say I'm gay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-16
Updated: 2019-07-16
Packaged: 2020-06-29 12:18:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,647
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19830073
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/auburnedcattails/pseuds/auburnedcattails
Summary: The double doors open and Peter is on his feet before the first tear can fall. A quick sniffle all that betrays how close he had been.It is Pepper. She looks as tired as Peter feels, still wearing her under-armor suit from the final battle with Thanos.For a moment they just stand facing one another.“Mr. Stark, he’s…”“He’s going to live,” she says.





	After the Snap

**Author's Note:**

> This is more of a character study fix-it mix. Look, honestly all the characters in the MCU have been through so much. Especially Peter, like how many father figures of his have to die? Are we 3 for 3 at this point? So I wrote this fix it to get out my feelings after Endgame and Far From Home. Let them be a happy family. This is un-beta'd so be kind.

Peter sits hunched outside the medical lab, his knee rapidly jumping up and down as he waits. His gaze is fixed on the baseball cap he holds in his hands, tracing the New York initials embroidered on the front with his eyes. A bead of sweat trickled down his forehead and into his eyes making him blink and loose his intense focus on the stitching.

Peter sits up straightens as he wipes the sweat out of his eyes. He brushes his hair back and places the touristy cap back on his head. Rhodey had given it to him, along with the grey hoody he was wearing over his suit as they drove to the medical lab where Tony was rushed after the snap.

God, how Tony had looked after… Peter’s hands begin to tremble and he fumbles putting on the hat. He cups his face in his hands. He hast to hold it together. He feels his eyes blurring. _Shit._

The double doors open and Peter is on his feet before the first tear can fall. A quick sniffle all that betrays how close he had been.

It is Pepper. She looks as tired as Peter feels, still wearing her under-armor suit from the final battle with Thanos.

For a moment they just stand facing one another.

“Mr. Stark, he’s…”

“He’s going to live,” she says.

The strangled noise that escaped Peter as he releases the breath he’s been holding for the past 10 hours seems to give Pepper permission to lose that last of her composure as well. Her face crumples, “I thought, no in that moment I _knew_ we were going to loose him. That I’d have to tell Morgan, I…”

Peter hugs her. He and Pepper had been friendly the few times they had interacted at Avengers’ headquarters or the tower, but they had never been close. None of that mattered in this moment. She hugs him back, lets out a sob into his shoulder and together they grieve what almost had happened. Who they lost had _almost_ just lost.

After what could’ve been five minutes or forty-five, Pepper releases Peter and takes a step back. She wipes a tear from her cheek.

“You’re taller now,” Pepper gave Peter a weak smile, “I wonder if you aged during the – Though I have no idea how that’s possible. Tony probably would though.”

“Yeah,” Peter chuckles, it sounds strained even to his own ears. Pepper takes his hand loosely in her own.

“We should ask him when he wakes up,” Pepper looks back at the double doors and Peter follows her gaze, “Would you like to see him? It won’t be easy.” Peter has already let go of Pepper’s hand and is walking toward the double doors. Pepper looks after him, not affronted, but worried.

* * *

When Peter enters the medical bay, all the flashing lights from the high-tec equipment he’d normally be geeking over, cannot distract him for a moment. His focus immediately falls to the figure laying inside one of Helen Cho’s regeneration pods.

Tony looks like something is still missing, even as Cho’s machine knits together the last of his charred flesh. He is breathing through a tube in harsh irregular breaths. _He’s breathing though_ , is all that Peter could think, _Thank god, he’s breathing._

Peter presses his hands tentatively against the glass. Tony looks so fragile, as if Peter could still loose him at any moment. There was nothing he could do now though, but wait. Tony was alive and that was all that mattered. _He was here. Tony is breathing. He is Alive. This is real._

The tears did come now, heavy and unceasing. Peter sobbed into the quiet room, a sob that racked his whole body from head to toe. Peter fell to his knees, his forehead against the glass of the healing pod. He cried until he had nothing left and passed out against the base of the pod into a restless sleep.

Peter vaguely remembers Rhodey coming in and saying something along the lines of, “Come on kid,” before bundling him in a panic blanket and picking him up. Maybe later he will be embarrassed that someone had to carry him out of the hospital, but right now he can’t feel anything but an uneasy relief.

* * *

**7 Months Later**

“Goodbye, Aunt May!” Peter calls over his shoulder as he grabs his bag and begins to head out.

“Peter wait up!” Aunt May emerges from her room in a flurry. Peter pauses in front of the door to the apartment, his hand on the doorknob.

“Give this back to Pepper for me will you? She lent this to me last month,” May hands Peter a gift bag with a book and a small stuffed duckling inside.

“The book or the duck?”

“Ha Ha. The book. The duck is for Morgan, it’s her birthday next week,” May ruffles Peter’s hair playfully.

“I know, I got her a coding kit,” Peter replies.

May just smiles at Peter, before her face twists into one of sudden remembrance, “Oh and also I got a call from your chemistry teacher, he wanted me to tell you he’d be happy to write you a letter of recommendation for your college applications! Isn’t that great!”

“Yeah…” Peter visibly deflates.

“I know it’s a bit soon, after… well everything and if you want to wait a year before college then that’s completely fine. I just want you to keep your options open, hmm?” May strokes Peter’s cheek, “You know I love you and even if you are technically 24 now, I won’t judge you if you have to live at home.”

“May!” Peter laughs, swatting her hand away and returns his aunt’s playful smile, “I love you to. I’ll see you around 8pm, don’t worry about dinner!”

“Be safe,” May waves after Peter as he turns and runs out the door.

* * *

Peter pulls off his mask as he comes to a skidding stop in front of Pepper and Tony’s cabin, if you could call this woodland mansion a cabin. Before he can ring the doorbell the front door bursts open.

“Peter!” Morgan burst through and wrapped her arms around Peter’s legs, her brown pony tail bouncing behind her, “Will you help me build my robot for the science fair?”

“Naturally! Every great scientist needs an assistant, what kind of Robot is it?” Peter asks untangling himself from Morgan’s grasp.

“The kind that helps people!”

“That sounds good! How does it do that?”

“It helps people who can’t get out of bed on their own.”

Peter’s smile falters for just a second before he catches himself. “Oh?”

“Like a nurse! A really buff nurse!”

Peter chuckles at that, “Alright. Do you know where your mom is? I need to give her something before we can get to work.”

“She’s in her office, but don’t take too long! The science fair is on Monday!” Morgan leads Peter inside and sits down on the couch in the living room. The coffee table in front of her was covered in diagrams drawn in colored pencil.

Peter smiles as she immediately refocused on her science project, before he walks up the stairs to knock on the heavy oak door that leads to Pepper’s office.

“Come in sweetheart,” Pepper calls from her desk as she pours over something from Stark Industries on her computer. She looks up through her reading glasses at Peter as he enters.

“Peter! I thought you were Morgan! I didn’t even hear you come in,” she exclaims as she moves to greet him.

“Don’t worry about it, how are you?” Peter asks, reaching to meet Pepper in a familiar side hug, “I have something for you.”

“Another present? She already loves you know, you don’t have to spoil her so much,” Pepper chides softly when she sees the bag.

“It’s from May! The duck is! The book is yours,” Peter flusters as he hands over the bag.

“Well tell her thank you, for the duck and the book,” Pepper beams back at him, “I’ll have to ask her what she thought of the ending.”

“PETER!” Morgan’s voice rings from down the stairs, “Time is money!”

Pepper chuckles darkly, “Oh dear, maybe I do need to take a break from work. I hope she didn’t get that from me… It’s been so hard to get away after settling all the legal surrounding…”

Pepper sighs and looks toward a picture of her, Tony, and Morgan from before, during the blip. Morgan looked so much smaller and Tony… Peter glances between the two, the heavy feeling in his gut reforming. It was getting better for both of them, but it still… waiting for Tony to wake up had almost been easy the first month, and the second. The third one wasn’t even so bad, but as the fourth rolled around and the doctors began approaching Pepper about “options” – that is when things had gotten really hard. That was also around the time when Peter had started coming over to watch Morgan.

“If you need a anymore help, I’m always here!” Peter gestures awkwardly towards himself.

“Oh no Peter! You’ve been amazing! I honestly don’t know what I would’ve done without you these past couple months, and Morgan really does adore you,” Pepper gives him a warm genuine smile, her tone softening when she mentions her daughter.

“I’ll go figure out dinner, while you go help Morgan. Which means I figure out what takeout to order, while you go do all the work.”

“I don’t know how much help she really needs, she seems to have it pretty covered,” Peter chuckles as he turns and heads towards the door, “I’m partial to pizza by the way.”

“Duly noted,” Pepper says in her CEO voice, just then Morgan calls from downstairs again, “Better hurry.”

Peter smiles and runs down the stairs to join the budding engineer.

* * *

Peter and Morgan were sill hunched over the coffee table trying to figure out if a third arm would make the robot too top heavy when the phone rang. Dummy had rolled into the room and was moving its arm up and down excitedly in favor of “more arms.”

Peter’s would not have caught it without his super hearing, but Pepper’s sharp intake of breath from the kitchen makes him sit up and pay attention. Morgan looks up at Peter in confusion, just as Pepper power walks out of the kitchen a second later and grabs a coat for her and Morgan.

A bit breathless, but still amazingly composed Pepper turns to Peter and Morgan, “He’s awake.”

* * *

Walking though the hospital lobby sends Peter spiraling back to the night after Thanos, back father then to after Ben, and even farther still to the car accident – the crushing weight of all that metal on top of him and waking up in the hospital to find both his parents just gone. God, he has lost _so_ _many_ people in hospitals.

He starts to lose control of his heightened senses, he can hear so much sickness in this place. Coughing. Calls from EMTs outside. There is a woman crying somewhere on an upper level.

Suddenly, it feels as if there is no more oxygen in the room or maybe Peter had just forgotten how to breath it. He leans over supporting himself on his knees as he tries to remember how. It’s not working and Peter is starting to see black around the edges of his vision.

Then, Morgan’s small hand touches face, “Are you alright Peter?”

All Peter can see is her small face then, her large concerned brown eyes, so much like… He focuses everything on her, then on the fact that Tony is awake somewhere in this building, that when he called to tell May she asked for the address of the hospital so she could bring him a change of clothes and an overnight pack. Peter pulls himself back, the same way he pulled himself out from under that building Liz’s dad had dumped on him.

“Yeah, I’m ok. Thanks,” Peter smiles at Morgan. She gives him a dubious look.

Pepper is waiting patiently ahead, when he catches up with her she takes his arm and shoots him an understanding look. She is so solid by his side and if it weren’t for how tight she was holding his arm he would’ve wondered how she remained so calm herself. Morgan takes his other hand and Peter is officially insulated on both sides. His phone buzzes in his back pocket, that must be May letting him know she’s on her way. _When did he get so many great women in his life?_ Peter wonders as they make their way to Mr. Stark’s room.

* * *

Rhodey is there, standing outside Tony’s hospital room or more accurate heavily guarded medical suite.

“Hey Pep,” Rhodey wraps pepper in a big hug. He quickly adjusts to include Morgan and Peter as well.

“He’s a little disoriented right now, are you ready to- your right, your right,” Rhodey backtracks at the look Pepper gives him.

“Morgan, sweetie. I’m going in to see Daddy, you’re going to wait out here with Uncle Rhodey a bit before you come in, ok?” Pepper kneels down to talk to Morgan at her level.

Morgan opens her mouth to protest, but Pepper cuts her off, “I don’t know how awake Daddy is right now and I want him to be able to give you his full attention when he sees you again, alright darling?” Morgan mulls this over before coming to a decision. She nods an makes her way over Rhodey, who scoops her up into his arms.

“I’m building a Robot,” Morgan says pointedly to Rhodey.

“Tell me _all_ about it,” Rhodey replies.

As Morgan launches into detailed her explanations of robotics, Peter remains out of place. He stands awkwardly not sure where he should put himself. Should he follow as Pepper begins to walk towards Tony’s room? No, it’s not his place. He should help with Morgan, but…

“Peter?” Pepper calls him softly, snapping him out of his head, “Are you coming?”

Peter only manages to nod “yes” as he half jogs to catch up with Pepper. They both walk past the two guards and an advanced ID scan at the entrance to Tony’s room.

* * *

The room itself is mostly dark. The curtains are drawn and cast a blue hue across the room. Then Peter sees him and his heart catches in his throat.

Tony Stark sits up in his hospital bed and IV drip and several other machines hooked up and monitoring his vitals. He is thin, thinner than Peter has ever seen him, but he is _miraculously_ awake _._

“Hey Pep… Hey Pete,” Mr. Stark’s voice is raspy with lack of use. Pepper is already moving and at his side. She takes his frail hand and says something softly to him.

Peter’s feet feel like cement as he drags himself over to the foot of Tony’s bed.

“He- Hey Mr. Stark.”

Tony pats the bed next to him, Peter moves over and sits. He is so close now. For a moment Peter is afraid this isn’t real, that it is a dream and if he reaches out and touches Tony he’ll disappear. Pepper takes his hand in hers and guides it over to the hand of Tony’s she is holding and places her other hand of top of Peter’s.

Peter has to physically stop from jolting back when he feels the warmth of Mr. Stark’s hand under his own. Suddenly, the fear melts away and Peter doesn’t know if he’ll ever be able to let this hand go ever again.

All of them all seem to be on the same boat and the three of them sit in silence like that for a long while.

“Well, fuck. It’s good to be… not dead,” Tony finally breaks the silence and Pepper responds with a laugh, only somewhat hysterical.

“How’s my girl?”

“She’s outside with Rhodey,” Pepper smiles through teary eyes.

“Talking about the robot,” Peter blurts out awkwardly. Tony’s eyebrows shoot upwards and Peter blushes, “Oh?” _Get it together, Peter._

“For the science fair. I’m helping her build it, but she doesn’t really need the help.” _I guess not_. Peter thinks as he rambles on, “Dummy seems excited about it too. He keeps on hovering around the living room when we’re working.”

That makes Tony smile and Peter takes that as a win. Pepper smiles to, but it begins to crack around the edges and it wobbles.

“I’ll go see if Morgan’s ready to come up?” Peter offers.

“Thank you Peter,” Mr. Stark says, his voice thick with something Peter can’t place. Peter pulls his hand almost painfully from the pile, though in actuality it is kind of sweaty and that makes it a bit easier. He stands up and just as he leaves he hears Pepper breakdown.

* * *

Morgan and Rhodey aren’t in the lobby outside Tony’s suite anymore. Peter begins to walk, he just lets his feet carry him as he looks. Pepper needs some time anyways and to be honest so does he. _Mr. Stark’s really alive!_ Peter is still processing a lot to be honest. What feels like eight months but is closer to 6 years ago he was in space! Space! With a wizard and aliens! Then he was, well he wasn’t. Peter still doesn’t know how to feel about that. Then Peter was here and 5 years older, then immediately he was fighting Thanos _again_. Then… he thought he’d lost him. 

Peter feels overwhelmed. He thinks he’ll take that gap year before heading off to MIT or wherever after all. It’s been over half a year and he still hasn’t really taken the time to figure out how he feels about 98% of what has happened. It’s part of the reason he threw himself so hard into finishing up High School early and then helping out with Morgan all the time. He didn’t _want_ to think about how he felt, _feels._ About how he feels to have lost 5 years of his life. How he feels about almost loosing Tony. Up until just moments ago he was still under the impression that he probably had anyways.

Peter stops walking, he’s at the front of the hospital again. No sign of a small mad scientist and or the Iron Patriot.

“Peter!” It’s Aunt May and Peter hasn’t been so glad to see her since the blip ended and he’s walked in on her arguing with the new residents of their apartment, alive and not dust.

“I brought you some Thai, a change of clothes, and some deodorant. Trust me you’ll thank me tomorrow,” she walks up to him and wraps him in big hug, “Are you ok, honey?”

“Not really,” Peter replies gripping her back tightly.

May holds him tighter, before releasing him, “Let’s go find a place to sit and get some food in you.” Peter doesn’t feel hungry – even though he hasn’t eaten in hours – but May brought Thai from Ben’s favorite place so he can’t say no and she knows it.

“Yeah, thanks May,” Peter means it.

* * *

As Peter and May head into the cafeteria, Peter spots Rhodey and Morgan sitting in the corner each with a single pudding cup in front of them. Rhodey spots him and May at almost the same time and waves them over.

“You guys smell great,” Rhodey says as they take a seat at the table. Aunt May holds the take out bag up enticingly and waves it slightly in the air.

“Feel free to have some, I brought more than just Peter and I can finish.”

“Has anyone told you you’re a saint lately,” Rhodey replies as he opens one of the take-out boxes.

“Not lately,” May responds cheekily and hands Peter a set of plastic cutlery.

“Well you bw-are,” Rhodey replies through a mouthful of noodles. Peter also takes a bite and it is as if he can feel the warmth of the food spreading out from his belly to his fingertips. He can think about how he feels about all that other stuff tomorrow, he’s got time again.

* * *

Peter is back at Tony’s door with Morgan in tow this time. It sounds quiet inside, but Peter knocks on the door lightly just in case. Aunt May gives him a big two thumbs up and sits down next to Rhodey in the lobby.

Morgan immediately runs to her father’s side the moment they are through to door and climbs up onto the bed next to him. She stops then, she knows to be gentle as she moves up close to Tony right now. Tony takes Morgan into a tight hug.

Pepper is calm again, if a little red around the eyes. She watches her family softly and seems to truly relax in the first time since, well ever that Peter has seen actually. Peter comes up and sits next to her. Pepper squeezes arm and gives him a look that says thank you. Peter doesn’t really know if he deserves it, but smiles back anyways.

“So I heard you’re building a robot,” Tony prompts Morgan.

“Peter did you spoil it?” Morgan looks accusingly at Peter. He hold his hands up in surrender.

“No, no,” Tony chuckles, “He didn’t give any details. Why don’t you fill me in pumpkin?”

“Well…” and Morgan launches into the same lengthy explanation she had given Rhodey earlier that evening with Tony nodding along the whole way.

“Do I smell peanuts?” Pepper suddenly asks Peter.

“Oh, May brought Thai,” Peter replies, “She’s still out there with some if you’re hungry.”

“I may take you up on that,” Pepper smiles, “I haven’t eaten since this morning and it’ll be good to see May.”

Peter hadn’t failed to notice how close Pepper and his Aunt had become over the past several months with their book club of two and frequent lunches. May had lost her husband and was a single mother as well. She was someone Pepper could talk to through the worst of it and May could offer advice in a way Peter had never felt comfortable.

Pepper stood, gently brushing Tony’s hand with her own as she moved to go meet with May and grab some dinner.

* * *

Several minutes, Morgan had started to finally fade. It was way past her bedtime after all. She slowly nodded off after a few yawns and snuggling in at her father’s side.

Then Tony looked over and caught Peter’s eyes. Peter was struck dumb again, it was different with Pepper gone now.

“I…” Peter chocked out. Tony reached a hand out and Peter took it.

“Thank you for looking out for my family Peter,” Mr. Stark said in an unusually serious way.

“No, no problem. Mr. Stark, I’m- I mean they’re great! Your family!” Peter coughed awkwardly. He had slowly adjusted to being older, there were the events which had forced him to grow up faster than those around him and the fact his brain worked a bit differently than it had when he was seventeen. He was generally a bit calmer, less impulsive. It was frustrating that Mr. Stark seemed to reduce him to a bumbling teenager again.

“Relax Parker,” Tony gave him a knowing smile, “But I mean it, Peter. Also you know you’re included under that label as well.”

If Peter though he had trouble speaking before, he might just never manage to speak to Tony ever again now. Mr. Stark just waited patiently for Peter, he looked tired too Peter noticed.

“I missed you, I thought you were never coming back,” Peter finally croaked out.

“I’m sorry Peter-“

“No, I don’t want that!” Peter found his voice again, “You did nothing wrong!”

“Didn’t I though?” Tony sighed and looked up at the hospital ceiling, “I got everyone back and then I just left you and Pepper and Morgan.”

“No! If anyone, it’s my fault for not being stronger! If I could of just kept the gauntlet away from him a little longer. You might never have had to use it at all! I- Mr. Stark, I-,” Peter felt the sting of hot tears in his eyes.

“Peter you did nothing wrong, you did everything you could,” Tony was suddenly stern, “It was my choice to use the gauntlet.”

“But you wouldn’t of had to choose if I-,” Peter began again, but Tony cut him off.

“Look at us. I already had a similar conversation with Pepper before you came in,” Tony sighed, “We’re the same, we both assume responsibility for too much. Maybe it just comes with the hero business.”

“Did Pepper tell you that?” Peter asked.

“Of course! I am many things Parker, and none of them are self-reflective. Not without a heavy dose of alcohol first anyways, ” Tony smirks at Peter, “Anyways it seems Pepper has developed quite the crush on your Aunt since I’ve been out. Should I be worried?”

“Honestly, probably,” Peter replied, surprised how serious he manages to keep his expression.

Then, they both laughed earnestly, but Tony gets quiet again.

“I wouldn’t blame her to be honest,” Tony gets a far off look in his eyes, “We were always on and off until this little ray of sunshine.”

Tony glances down at Morgan who is so deep asleep _she might have been in a coma_. Peter winces at his own line of thought. _Way too soon Peter, Christ_. _What’s the matter with him?_

“Even my proposal to Pepper was a cover up when you turned me down to join the Avengers that first time,” Tony smiles to himself.

“WHAT?!” Peter stops and hushes himself, but Morgan hasn’t stirred, “You mean that wasn’t a test of my character or something?”

“Nope, and I had to give the press core something,” Stark replies.

“And you never told me? What a dick,” Peter claps his hand over his mouth.

Tony only laughed, “Yeah that sounds about right, but honestly a 15 year-old Avenger, that would’ve been a disaster. Good thing you were adult enough for the both of us and turned me down.”

“You’re probably right, but I still can’t believe you didn’t tell me! Even when we were in space!”

“I was a bit preoccupied, but you’re right. I should have told you. I guess I just wanted to let you grow up with your friends and your aunt a little longer. I didn’t want to take the friendly neighborhood Spiderman out of the neighborhood just yet. And be honest, you wouldn’t have stayed the moment you found out,” Stark leveled Peter with a look.

Peter shrugs, he’s probably right. Peter is suddenly aware he’s still holding Mr. Starks hand. He slips it out and the cold is startling.

“Well you’ll never be able to slip something like that past her,” Peter motions toward Morgan.

“No, I think you’re right. She’s too much like Pepper,” Tony smiles down at the sleeping bundle.

“I think she’s a lot like you too,” Peter says.

“I’m not sure how to feel about that to be honest,” Tony looks away.

“It’s a good thing,” Peter says, “And you’re good too.”

Tony looks back at Peter, his expression unreadable.

Peter’s voice breaks a bit, “I’m so glad your back, Mr. Stark.”

A long moment passes between the two men.

“Glad to be back kid,” Tony eventually says and smiles sleepily. Peter watches over Tony as he nods off and he and Morgan sleep side by side. Eventually, Rhodey comes in and puts a hand on Peter’s shoulder.

“You’re Aunt took Pepper back to the cabin to grab a few things. I got it from here,” Rhodey whispers to Peter. Peter nods and moves over to the couch, how exhausted he is finally hits him and Peter falls into the first good sleep he’s had in 5 years and 7 months.

**Author's Note:**

> Also as for why I aged Peter up, I didn't want him to be in high school again 5 years later. That's pretty much the only reason. I also thought it added an interesting angst angle.


End file.
